Pages

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

tonight on cool2craft, i hosted and demo-ed monoprinting on fabric. my samples that i prepped before the show turned out better than what i did on camera...but i kind of expected that...you have to work quickly with just the right amount of paint to release a successful print. hard to do while talking at the same time!

so here's one of the panels i printed, wrapped around a piece of cardstock and adhered to a card - i think this turned out really cute!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

my blog has been sooooo neglected. i place the blame squarely on the new fall line-up on tv!

anyway, last week on the cool2craft pj party, i demo-ed this "millefiori" technique for making needlefelted beads. i learned it from the book, fast, fun & easy needlefelting. it is indeed easy and fun! i made a little bracelet for mon ami with the purple and pink beads.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

tonight on cool2craft, i demo-ed a quickie needlefelting project - a doodley cupcake using yarn and roving on a felt foundation. it was super fast and easy to felt, cut out, then glue to some cardstock to make a cute birthday card.

click here to watch the webisode, there were lots of other super cool demos too - a spraypaint tie-dye teeshirt, embossed metal sheets, and handpainted collage papers. i love cool2craft, we get to be silly and i always learn something new!

Monday, September 06, 2010

today on cool2craft, i showed how to make this notebook cover out of timtex - layered with paper, fabric, and lace. it's inspired by the techniques i learned in the book fabric art collage.

i used the wide lace (which was white to start) as a stencil to create the pattern on the sides - spritzed with spray ink. that process dyed the lace the same color at the same time - a twofer!

i tapped the mermaid image on to two layers at once - organza on top of muslin. that way i got the color of the muslin behind the image, plus the shine of the organza, and the transfer process basically adhered the two layers together....magic!

after stitching down my mermaid to my layers of gold silk and gold paper, i added some ribbons on top of the lace, stitched that down and wrapped it all around to the back, adhering with some fabric glue. then i had fun burning a little design all around the edges with my textile tool.

i added an embellishment and it's ready to be glued to sheet of cardboard, then bound with papers into a notebook. you could also just glue it to a regular notebook from the office supply store.

here's an alternate design with a brighter color - i haven't stitched it down yet. i transferred the mermaid to lutradur instead of muslin.

Sunday, September 05, 2010

these are some more of the handpainted greeting cards i made for the craft it forward movement on facebook.

i always keep my papers from painting demos that i give, complete with splatters and experimental brush strokes and color blends. i also use up any leftover paint from projects by painting random patterns on scraps of watercolor paper and cardstock. no paint ever goes to waste!then whenever i need a nice background paper for an atc or greeting card, i have lots to work with. by cropping "scrap paintings" into smaller sections and adding a little embellishment, i am often pleasantly surprised with the designs that emerge!

Friday, September 03, 2010

this was a fun needlefelted piece i did as part of a product review article i wrote. the product i was working with and reviewing were the cute little charms; they were perfect embellishments.

wool yarn is great for needlefelting outlines like this. it was really fun to just grab a skein of yellow yarn and start doodling randomly on my piece of black felt....but i challenged myself to create the whole design with one long continuous strand—no cutting.

after my doodle was all punched into place, i added a variety of brightly colored embroidery stitches and then stitched the charms on with a bit of black thread.

this piece just makes me happy, it looks so cheerful to me...so it hangs right near my computer in my studio.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

tonight on cool2craft, i showed some of the pages of my little tag book...and how to make super easy photo frames from cardstock for each page.

i think these make great gifts, you can create these cute little albums and let your recipient fill them up with photos and journaling. decorate the right side pages with papers and frames, and leave the left side pages open for writing. these blank board books are really high quality, and they're on sale right now for only $3.95 each!

top left - glue small triangles in the corners, just around the outer edges so you can slip the corner of a photo inside, then anchor it with a little glue dot.

top right - punch a couple small holes and string ribbon through them and around the sides, then slide a photo under the ribbon and anchor with a glue dot.

bottom left - use your favorite corner punch - this one i used has 4 slots which allows for different sizes of photos to be tucked inside. leave the top of the cardstock unglued at the top so you can slide the photo inside.

bottom right - cut a random shape in the center with an exacto blade, but leave a small section uncut so you can flip up the flap to reveal a photo underneath.